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Friday, January 20, 2012

Sweet Release~ Day 20 (31 Days of Wisdom)

Have you ever wanted to reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelly make someone pay for what they did?

Have you ever devised plan after plan, rehearsing what you would do, what you would say, what they would do and what they would say, over and over and over and over again?

Have you ever kept re-living the hurt by going through the motions of the betrayal or injustice like a broken record in your heart and mind?

Yeah, me, too.

And, you know what I have discovered?

All the remembering,

all the planning and scheming,

all the re-telling and re-living,

only keeps me stuck right smack dab in the middle of my hurt. It does nothing to bring me comfort, healing or closure. Absolutely nothing.

And, here's why.

God hasn't called us to revenge.

Don't say, "I'll pay you back for the wrong you did."
Wait for the Lord, and he will make things right. ~ Proverbs 20:22

God has called us to forgive and to trust Him to make things right.

As long as we are "in it",
remembering it,
reliving it,
planning our revenge,
there is no room for God.

I don't know about you, but there have been times when my entire being has been totally consumed by the hurt and the desire to get even. It was all I could think about. From the moment my eyes popped open, until they closed at night, it was on my mind. Sometimes, it even woke me up in the middle of the night! This is not how God intended for us to live.

In this world there will be hurt, betrayal, injustice, manipulation, false friends, and back-stabbing.

But,
in our heart,
indwelling us,
living inside us,
empowering us to forgive,
we have the Spirit of the Living God.

If we are willing to step out of the way,
if we are willing to surrender our need to take care of it,
if we are willing to forgive and forget, to let go and let God,

God will take care of it.

No. God might not see fit to handle it the way you or I would. Chances are the plans you spent all night scheming up won't be played out in the life of the offender. But, God will take care of it. In His timing, and in His way.

It is in releasing our hurt to God that we find our ultimate release.

It is in forgiveness that we find freedom.

This is why God tells us to hand it over to Him. This is why our Heavenly Father tells us to forgive and to trust HIM to make things right.

4 comments:

This is beautiful. A few years ago my husband and I were struggling in a congregation with some people who were being very unloving. I began praying for the Spirit of Forgiveness and it wasn't until a year and a half later that I suddenly realized God had finally taken all of the anger and hurt away and I had truly come to a place of forgiveness. It was like a burden had been lifted and I was, and am, so thankful to God for walking me through it.

Stacy this was so like our study of Jonah in Church today!Thankyou for sharing... I have found it exactly so in my life...~ as you said:what could be more rightthan an offense that is forgiven than sleep that is sweet?than a mind that is at peace?than a heart that is healed?

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